that does it for us. we'll be back tomorrow with more "mtp daily." have a great night. good evening. we were going to be talking about some new polls from battleground states and about donald trump's attempts to avoid personal attacks aimed at people who come out against him. late today, the republican nominee for president scrambled our plans and created yet another firestorm for his campaign. watch for yourself what trump said this afternoon at a rally in wilmington, north carolina.

>> hillary wants to abolish essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is. i don't know. but i'll tell you what. that will be a horrible day. if, if hillary gets to put her judges, right now we're tied. if you don't do what's the right thing, you're not going to have -- either you're not going to have a second amendment or you're not going to have much of it left and you're not going to be able to protect yourselves, which you need. which you need. you know, when the bad guys burst into your house they're not looking about second amendments and do i have the right to do this. >> democrats quickly and widely condemned what trump said. condemned by clinton campaign manager robby mook who sent out a statement saying quote, this

is simple. what trump is saying is dangerous. the person seeking to be the president of the united states should not suggest violence in any way. trump senior communications advisor jason miller also put out a statement pretty quickly. his said it's called the power of unification. second amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified which gives them great political power. this year they will be voting in record numbers and it won't be for hillary clinton. it will be for donald trump. the nra also weighed in with two tweets. the first one said at real donald trump is right if hillary gets to pick her anti-second aemtment scotus judges there's nothing we can do. continuing, quote, but there is something we can do on election day. show up and vote for second amendment. defend second amendment. whether you credit jason miller's explanation or not, the remark is certain to dominate this news cycle and be in the political bloodstream for a long time.

donny deutch is here again. democrats are condemning this widely. what does this say about the trump campaign's ability to keep their candidate on message and what are the implications of what he said this afternoon? >> to quote a great fan of the show, britney spears, oops, he did it again. that statement was both untruthful and uncouth. untruthful in the sense she's not looking to take people's guns away. we know that. it's a complete factual absurdity. more importantly, yes, it was a joke. you can't read it any other way. what he was joking about, not literal but clearly, you can't read it oh, well then take matters into your own hand, get a gun, do what you have to do vis a vis hillary clinton. assassination jokes are not funny. you and i were talking this morning with your great team here talking about oh, we need to do a segment on how long can trump stay focused, how long can trump stay on message, how long can trump not step in doo-doo. we just saw it. it's a big one. and it's not funny anymore. it's just not funny.

this man is running for commander in chief and to be joking, to suggest take matters into your own hands, we have a lot of loons in this country. all you have to do is affect one person. as an american, as a dad, as somebody who has always liked donald personally and i keep caveating that. it's hard to continue to say that, shame on him. >> he's gotten death threats, the clintons have gotten death threats. he loves to joke. this is a joke that was not appropriate. if they are talking about rallying people that support the second amendment, they are welcome to try. the best you can say about their statement is that's not how host people interpreted that. that clip will be shown hundreds of times over the next 24 hours. there's not -- they are not apologizing, not backing down. they are welcome to that posture but they better understand at a minimum that people aren't interpreting it that way and it is out of bounds to discuss. once again, he is playing into

the main critique, not just of hillary clinton, but of his republican critics that he does not have the temperament to be president of the united states. >> everything we saw the republican convention, it was about fear. that's about fear. he was literally saying to that audience when the bad guys come into your house. that is the government, whoever that may be. it's getting old and it's not working. you saw the bumps out of the convention. we will get to polls in a little while. i just watched him yesterday in that speech and i watched when the hecklers were up there. i have never seen him more uncomfortable. this is who he is. he's an entertainer. he's a lounge act. this is what he does. you can do that as a lounge act. you can't do that as -- >> you can do it on howard stern if you are a real estate developer from new york. you cannot joke about assassination. as someone who is under u.s. secret service protection, he should know you can't make flip comments about it. you just can't. i believe that this is one, we said it about a thousand other

things, given the timing of this and the nature of what he said, this is a problem for him. now, we should say that he's not the first person under u.s. secret service protection to joke about guns and violence. here's joe biden from september 2008 campaigning in virginia. >> i guarantee you, barack obama ain't taking my shotguns so don't buy that malarkey. don't buy that malarkey. they're going to start peddling that to you. i got two. he tries to pull my beretta he's got a problem. >> talking about his running mate, a guy who is -- both of whom were under secret service protection at the time. same kind of thing, making a joke about someone else who is being protected, who has had death threats against him, saying you mess with my guns, you'll have a problem. >> one was somebody he was talking about who is his partner and friend and the other was

prescriptive talking to people to do something. >> should joe biden have taken heat for that joke? >> i think you have to put it in context. >> yes or no. should joe biden have taken heat for that joke? >> no. >> i say yes. >> why? it would be like you and i joking. >> it's still a joke threatening violence. it's the exact same thing. >> i have to go back to the context word. you and i will agree to disagree on that. i think they were very very different. i think particularly with everything else that's going on with trump. it's the same joke as boy, the russians should hack in and help us out and get the 30,000 e-mails. they are all jokes but they are all bad jokes. they are all at the expense of our national security. they are all temperamentally insane. >> i hope i have been clear condemning what trump said. but i do believe republicans are going to look at what joe biden said and probably find other examples of democrats joking about guns and if you want to

have the moral authority to condemn what trump said, i don't think you can look at what joe biden said and just dismiss it. >> only problem is when you are running a clinton ad and in that ad you are running sound bites whether about the khans, whether about the russians hacking us, whether it's about this, you are not going to have a counter argument hey, talking about something joe biden said eight years ago. >> talking about the civility of our discourse. >> we will be talking more about this throughout the program. as we mentioned, there are new battleground state polls out today that showed mixed results for donald j. trump, billionaire. in pennsylvania, quinnipiac university poll and a new survey by nbc news, "wall street journal" and marist show clinton leading trump by double digits. but other state polls depict a much closer race. in ohio, quinnipiac shows trump trailing by only four points. nbc has him down by five. both are within the margin of error. in iowa, nbc found clinton with a four point lead. but look at this florida poll by

quinnipiac. statistical tie with clinton at 46% and trump at 45%. we should note quinnipiac had them close in these states last month. pennsylvania has clearly shifted in clinton's direction. we can slice and dice this both ways. good or bad news for trump? >> well, look, the fact that these battleground states are close i think you would have to argue is good news for trump. if trump can somehow win iowa, win ohio, win florida, in striking distance in all of them, he's close to 270. now, pennsylvania right now is part of almost any calculation so that's a problem, for all the time he spent there, is going to spend more time there for sure. but if these numbers came out without the national numbers, you would say given the bad period trump's had he's in decent shape. >> i think these are very good numbers for trump. surprisingly good numbers. you could not have had a worst two weeks for trump. in a strange way, there is also a silver -- a silver lining in

the black cloud of pennsylvania. it allows the trump campaign to focus and say you know what, we are giving up on that. we are going all in on ohio, all in on florida, because there are a few different paths. clearly he needs, particularly if he gives up pennsylvania, he needs ohio and florida. to me, coming off these two weeks, if i'm trump, i'm very upbeat on those numbers. because you go wow, what if he didn't have a bad two weeks. >> the other thing he's been pounded with tv ads in those states. $46 million to zero. super pacs are up a little bit. he's not on there. as they raise money, if they go on tv there, you could argue if he has better time, today notwithstanding, the earned media, and he runs ads, you could start talking about being in striking distance. >> it shows what he said early on, i could go out in the street and kill somebody and people would still vote for me. there seems to be 39%, 40% of people, whatever he does, they're sticking with him. >> trump is hoping his detroit economic speech yesterday would

calm republican nerves. for the first time since his convention, maybe win him a news cycle. instead, he had to share the stage with more headlines about republican dissension. one of the harshest blows came from susan collins of maine, who last night published an op-ed piece "why i cannot support trump." she says his perceived mocking of the "new york times" reporter with a physical disability, his controversial statements about judge curiel and trump's ongoing feud with the khan family. this afternoon, senator collins went on cnn to further explain her decision. >> i have always supported my party's nominee. that's what made this decision so difficult. but in the end, i just cannot support donald trump.

i do not believe that he is the president that we need at this time in our country's history and i believe that in many ways, he is antithetical to the values of the republican party. the republican party believes in the dignity and worth of the individual. based on what i have seen donald trump say over and over and over again, that is not his style. >> now, on "meet the press daily" collins came to trump's defense or seemed to, saying regarding his comments about gun owners and hillary clinton, that trump was suggesting quote, that second amendment advocates around the country might come together to pressure the senate which is pretty much what the trump campaign is saying. collins at least with trump on that. now, collins' endorsement or collins' announcement she's not

supporting trump comes in the same news cycle that 50 former republican national security and homeland security officials came out against trump. they warned that their party's nominee would be quote, the most reckless president in american history. democrats of course gleeful about all these defections. i think senator collins saying she's not voting for trump is a bigger deal than these national security officials. you think the letter is a bigger deal. make your case. >> i couldn't disagree more. the best way to see what a message means is think about a voter. if i had to convince a voter and i was going to say i don't care what your politics are, if you are left or right, or where you are on taxes, two men that ran homeland security, two former cia directors, both from an apolitical point of view said this man is unfit, makes us vulnerable, is a danger to this country, our prime instinct is survival. it trumps everything else, no pun intended. how do you beat that? >> you beat it with an elected official who while she'sre-elec

respected and widely liked within the party. she got a lot of coverage today. she got more coverage than that letter did. she is much more likely i think to have the kind of spillover effect and echo effect. she's good friends with john mccain, for instance. i think susan collins cited reasons for opposing him that will be cited by others and those people can dominate the news cycle. bureaucrats, most of whom are not known, cannot dominate a news cycle. >> it's not about that. if i'm running an ad you know what i'm putting in that ad. there is no contest. survival instincts are in play here. these are people inside the game. yes, another politician, particularly a moderate republican, that plays into trump's you know what, the establishment, they don't like me. >> he said the same thing about these officials. he said these are the people who engaged in bad judgment. these people, some of them are better known like tom ridge, but they are not national figures. i think one of trump's strongest

arguments has been do you feel safe now, do you think we are doing an effective job fighting isis, do you think voting for the iraq war was a good idea even though his record on opposing the war is questionable. that to me is a stronger argument. the argument against susan collins, yeah, she's a career politician but she's from maine, her influence in maine is vast. her influence over republican officials i think could be quite big. i will say again, the argument they are using, i agree with national security but they are also using this argument about trump simply being unfit and her op-ed piece was eloquent on that. >> i'm telling you one thing. you say to somebody, him with the nuclear codes, not good for your kids. that's all you need to do. >> next we talk to one of hillary clinton's advisors about today's donald trump news and about clinton's detroit rebuttal speech later this week on the economy. energy is a complex challenge. people want power. and power plants account for more than a third of energy-related carbon emissions. the challenge is to capture the emissions before they're released into the atmosphere. exxonmobil is a leader in carbon capture.

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administrations. she joins us from washington. neera, thanks for joining us. >> great to be with you. >> want to start by having you listen again to what donald trump said today in north carolina. >> hillary wants to abolish essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is. i don't know. >> what do you think of what donald trump said? >> i think that many people believe that donald trump is a temperamentally unfit to be president and he used his remarks today to prove it. i think his remarks were dangerous. there's been a lot of violence at his rallies, lot of violence that he's encouraged directly and now to have language like that when you're dealing with a nominee of the democratic party, presidential candidate, i think

is outrageous and just shows that he should be nowhere close to the oval office. >> going to trump's economic speech the other day, he mentioned hillary's job-killing 1.3 trillion dollar tax increase plan. can you break down where that $1.3 trillion in tax increases comes from? >> you know, i can't, actually. i don't know where his numbers come from. when you look at his fact sheet it's pretty bare in terms of the details of his own mplan. hillary does believe and she said in the convention we have to ensure the wealthy are paying their fair share in taxes. i think a lot of people are concerned that that's not happening. it's fascinating to me that for most of this year, donald trump has been arguing that he's an advocate for hard-working families and he's a champion for the working men and women of this country, then in devising

his tax plan he doubled down on giving the vast majority of tax breaks, the very vast majority of tax breaks, to the wealthiest and well connected who are advising him, himself, his friends. it really tells me that that was all just a bait and switch for voters. he can't be trusted on economic issues. >> i want to go back to this issue of what donald trump said today, if i could. do i remember correctly or incorrectly that you were with hillary clinton on the day in 2008 when she made reference to the murder of robert kennedy? >> i was not with her when she made those comments. >> but you did talk to her about what happened, right? or am i misremembering that you weren't involved at all? >> i don't think i was involved in that but i would say those were very, very different remarks than was discussed today. >> let me just remind people what she said. republicans already are bringing this up. i want to give you a chance to respond. it was at the end of the nomination fight. it was a question about why she

was still staying in the race. she brought up the motion that things happen late in nomination fights and robert kennedy had been killed late in the nomination fight. some of then senator obama's supporters looked at that as kind of a reference, the notion that perhaps he could be killed and took some offense at it. so trump was clearly kidding, i believe. it's true that the topic maybe he should not be joking about. not maybe, shouldn't be joking about. do you see any parallel there? what do you say to republicans who say she has a history of making the same kind of remarks off the cuff? >> i would say there's absolutely no parallel. she's talking about a person that i think you have written she had deep respect for. in that race she never said anything remotely as belligerent against then senator obama as donald trump says every day. this takes place against the backdrop of a lot more violence

in his rallies. people are actually getting beaten up in his rallies and people are making chants like "lock her up" and even worse in her rallies, then to make a comment about essentially a potential murder of your opponent seems really far out of bounds. i think obviously republicans are going to go look at comments of everyone to kind of clean this up, but we all know what this is, which is a further demonstration that a person who has been telling everyone essentially is going to prove that ke he can stay on message can't do it because he makes comments like this. >> okay. mike pence was asked by reporters moments ago if donald trump had implied violence and he answered quote, of course not. we will talk more about the trump statement when we come back.

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we have appropriate revenue for social security. obviously she's had proposals to bend the cost curve in medicare but keep the program stable for retirees and for people who are relying on it. so those are issues she's championed and as she points out, all of her plans are paid for. she does not blow a $10 trillion or trillion dollar hole in the deficit. she believes in pay as you go for her programs she's investing in. that's been the case from day one of this campaign. >> hillary clinton left office as secretary of state with about a 70% approval rating. obviously since then there's been benghazi and the e-mails. there's such a strong dislike and disapproval in so many ways that i have a theory that when elizabeth warren was running for office, terrible disapproval. once she was in office, approval. i read a study that we don't have problems with women once they're in power but when they are striving for power, that can

be very threatening. this was a psychological study. any thoughts on that? because i can't -- there's such a dislike that it just doesn't add up. it's across the board and it's in the numbers. >> you know, i have actually been heartened at some of those numbers have improved in some polls, improved dramatically. obviously she has faced a lot of withering criticism. there has been a range of super pacs against her for a very long time and she's gotten a lot more negative coverage, indeed we have a lot of cities that show she's received far more negative coverage than any candidate, including donald trump. but she had a great convention. i think she was able to speak directly to people and her numbers are improving dramatically. >> we got to go to break. thanks so much. we'll be right back. wer back pain sufferers, the search for relief often leads to places like... this... this... or this. today, there's a new option.

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our next guest is a fellow wharton graduate, david mcmullin, but his friends call him evan. he's a former cia officer and yesterday, he announced he was running as an independent candidate for president. today he joins us here in studio. evan mcmullin, thank you for coming. we just want to show you, you are seeing this for the first time, what donald trump said today in north carolina. >> hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. >> his campaign says he was talking about mobilizing second amendment voters. what do you think of that? >> oh, look, i think it's time to start calling a spade a spade

with donald trump. we know what he means when he refuses to condemn david duke and other white supremacists. we know what he means when he suggests that his supporters should take violent action against those who oppose him politically. i think we know what he means when he says, when he suggests that gun owners should take some violent action towards hillary or whoever it was. >> no doubt, that was a joke but that's what he meant, no doubt? >> look, i believe, look, it seems fairly clear to me. this is just what kind of guy he is. it's consistent with his pattern and consistent with the kind of things, his rhetoric, the kind of things he does. it's just more donald trump. but that's just the tip of the iceberg with him. >> okay. we want to talk about policy. you are obviously new to almost everybody in america. i want to start by asking you about an issue that's been big the last few years. same sex marriage. it happened very quickly that it's now legal. are you comfortable with the way

it's happened and the current state, the law of the land on same sex marriage? >> my position on that is that as a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, i believe in traditional marriage between a man and a woman but i respect the decision of the court, and i think it's time to move on. >> along those lines, you said you want to push a lot for the federal level down to the state level. is that something you think should be handled by the states, not the federal government? >> ideally, yes. but it's been handled by the supreme court. that's where it is. >> are you saying your personal preference is marriage should be only legal between a man and woman but not just you accept the court but that you are fine withhe change? >> this is a decision of faith for me. it's something of faith for me. my faith isn't everybody else's faith. i make my decisions for me on those kinds of things. >> you are personally opposed to it but are comfortable with the law of the land. in other words, you wouldn't for instance try to appoint justices, nominate justices who would overturn the decision? >> i wouldn't on that.

>> let's say you were president and there was intelligence that suggested an opportunity for american forces to kill the head of syria, assad. would you authorize him to be killed by u.s. forces if you could do that? >> well, let's just say this. if we wanted to do that, we could do that now. that's a strategic decision that is driven by a strategy, if we had one. i don't think -- that's the issue there is not that we can't find him. not like bin laden. >> i assume you agree with the current president, you would like him gone? >> i do. >> why not have u.s. forces kill him? >> i think you have to have a number of things in place. i think assad should go. i don't think we can allow him to stay there. if we ever hope to defeat isis. one thing that i hope the world understands is that dictators create terrorists. that's something we all have to understand. now, donald trump will say well, saddam hussein was very good at

killing terrorists so that was at least something that was good with him. well, saddam hussein creates -- and other dictators create terrorists, create extremists. >> you said in one of your earlier interviews as a former cia operative you would be doing things very different when it comes to isis. give us one or two or three things you suggest, you come from a very different place in fighting isis. nch nch >> two enormous things are different with president obama and my view on what should be done. the first thing is, we need to take the fight to isis on the battlefield in a much more serious way. that includes more serious air strikes, that includes working with indigenous forces on the ground, developing them, taking a proactive role in that regard. it includes better aligning, coming up with a strategy first of all. we need a comprehensive strategy to defeat isis. that should be done in concert with our allies. now, there have been issues between the obama administration and our allies because they

don't agree on how we should go about destroying isis. that's meant that some of the allies aren't as engaged in the effort as we need them to be, frankly. so the second thing, just to finish that, the second thing is we really need to do a better job at fighting the ideology of radical islamists. this is a battle as much as it is a battle on the battlefield, traditionally, it's a battle of ideas. we are doing a terrible job in that regard. >> let me ask babout two issues. private savings accounts as part of social security. support that? >> yeah, i support most conservative solutions to reforming our entitlement programs. >> including that one? >> i'm not going to say necessarily that i'm supporting that officially as a part of my positioning on reforming entitlements, but look, the entitlements are pushing us further and further into debt. they are growing our deficits are larger and larger, our debts

are larger and larger. we have to do something to get them on a sustainable path. we have got to keep our commitments to our elderly, our seniors today, but we have got to phase in some reforms for future retirees. donald trump says he promises not to do that. actually, that's a promise that he makes publicly but privately, he says different things. he's not being honest with the american people about that. we absolutely do have to do that. i'll just say that we are on track to be spending more on debt service payments, interest payments, in about ten years than we currently spend on defense. that's a huge, huge problem. >> one last policy question. vouchers. allow kids in any school to take the money, the public money and bring it to a parochial school or charter school, private school. do you support that? >> absolutely. the reason why i support it is because i see it as a way for children that are growing up in

low income families or in families that are below the poverty line to have a chance. this is just such a critical thing. our educational system is 100 years old. it was made for a time when we were transitioning from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy. we have got to have a new updated educational system in a variety of ways but i think that's a very important one. >> with all due respect, we are not done with you yet. we want to talk more about your white house bid and how you plan to actually put this campaign together. it does take a village, as they say. real is touching a ray. amazing is moving like one. real is making new friends. amazing is getting this close. real is an animal rescue. amazing is over twenty-seven thousand of them.

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sorry, i can't hear you?? nice shirt craig. at jet.com, we always find innovative ways to save. get 15 percent off your first order. we are back with the newly minted independent candidate for president, evan mcmullin. people are just getting to know you. let's talk about you a little more. is it true as i heard you say in an interview that while you were in college, you started working with the cia? >> that's right. >> how did that start? when i was in college i wasn't with the cia. >> well, i became interested as a young man working for the cia, when my dad brought home a spy film on a vhs cassette. >> do you remember the film? >> "three days of the condor." one of the best. a lot of spy films are made every year. >> lot of scenes with pay phones in that. >> that's right. they used to be very important for spies. no longer. but yeah, that movie captivated my attention. >> did you contact them?

>> well, it's important so i started reading all kinds of books about the cia. couple years later i was still in high school, i called the agency and asked if there was anything i could do. i got in touch with a recruiter. we would stay in touch for a number of years after that. i spent -- finished high school, went on a mormon mission, started college and while i was in college, then the hiring process started. i would do a semester at byu and semester back in washington -- >> did your roommates know? >> they did know, yeah. at that time i wasn't undercover. it was only after i graduated that i then went undercover and went through training and then on to serve. >> we haven't had a president since george h.w. bush who served. did you ever kill anybody? >> you know, i served in war zones and in conflict zones and part of our role at the agency was to eliminate threats and eliminate those who were posing threats to the country. my role was to learn about the intentions of al qaeda and other

terrorist groups and the whereabouts of their operatives, and then to assist efforts to take them off the battlefield one way or another. >> is that a yes? >> i don't think answering that kind of question directly is the thing for me to do. i worked very hard and served the country honorably everywhere i went. >> you are asking people to vote for you as an unknown. i just want to go back to what donny just asked. you had a lot of very intense experiences, it's obvious from the kind of assignments, you were doing pretty intense stuff. you are not known to people. do you not feel you need to be more open about the kind of things you went through as a young man to give people a sense of your life experience and the kind of pressures you faced? >> no. i would love to -- i believe i'm totally open. i'm happy to answer -- >> he asked you a direct question. >> it's good. you know, sometimes veterans who have served are asked questions like that when they're running for president and then they brag about killing people and it just seems off to me, frankly.

>> with all due respect, i don't think either of us are asking you to brag about it. we are trying to get a sense of the kind of things you did. that's a pretty awesome responsibility. >> let me try to share a little more information, see if it satisfies you. i certainly located terrorists and those terrorists were either arrested or sometimes killed. that's what happened. so other details like that, i don't know if they're important to share. but this is what we do overseas. this is what central intelligence agency operations officers do. this is the role. just like our soldiers are tasked with going out and facing the enemy on the battlefield in a very traditional way, intelligence officers in combat zones or in hostile zones are operating sort of in the background, doing somewhat similar things but more quietly when necessary against top leaders of terrorist organizations and others. but these are things that are known.

if you know that i served as an operations officer in the central intelligence agency, then you can imagine if i'm serving in war zones that these are the kind of things i did. but these are not things, i understand that you are not asking me to brag about that and i don't mean to suggest that. i'm simply saying that it's unfortunate that this kind of work has to be done at all in the world. it is necessary, the work of a central intelligence agency operative is necessary, as the work of a soldier, but it's unfortunate and it's not something that i enjoy per se talking about. >> just pretend i was helping you on your campaign here. i'm talking to you the first time. you seem like a really good guy, a guy i want to go into business with. tell me why without talking about the other candidates you are fit to be president. you seem like a really smart 40-year-old guy that has served this country, that has worked in the banking business, somebody i

would love to sit next to at a dinner party, somebody i would invest if you came to start a business. tell me why i would vote for you. talk about the other candidates. what makes qualified? >> absolutely. this is what makes me qualified. one of the biggest challenges this country faces is the threat of islamist terrorism. i am the only credible candidate who has any experience whatsoever firsthand fighting terrorists. i know exactly what needs to be done to defeat isis and other such groups and on day one, i can start that process. i have 100% confidence in that. i have zero doubt. this is my wheelhouse. i look at my competitors, donald trump, everything he says about the topic is absolutely silly and in fact, damaging to our effort. and with regard to hillary clinton, under her tenure at the state department, she presided over isis' and the al qaeda in

iraq's resurgence. so that was what happened while she was there. so the idea that she would then be the person to go destroy them i think is flawed. i'm the only person with this experience. i'm the only person who knows how to work with the military, the intelligence services and law enforcement to get it done. the second thing is this. there are two more things. the second thing is that my time in the private sector taught me, i worked with a variety of companies in a variety of different sectors. i learned what it takes for them to thrive in a global economy and why that's important is because they need to thrive so that we have jobs here in america. that's another challenge that the american people are facing. we have got to get back to business. our companies need to start thriving more so than they are now so that we can get americans better paying jobs. now, lastly, the thing i will say is that i spent the last nearly four years working in congress at senior levels. i have seen from the inside what's wrong with our system. broadly speaking, it's that too

much power is in washington, located far away from the american people. so that the american people, the average hard-working american has almost -- has little say in what happens in the government. this has to change. it changes by shifting more power from the executive branch back to the legislative branch, congress, where it rightfully belongs, and more power back to the states. these are the things i know and these are three major challenges that this country faces. >> so many more things to talk to you about. luckily we have you for another segment. quick break. you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family. and when it's time to plan for your family's future, we're here for you. we're legalzoom, and for over 10 years we've helped families just like yours with wills and living trusts. so when you're ready, start with us. doing the right thing has never been easier. legalzoom. legal help is here.

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we're back with independent candidate for president, evan mcmullin. so much to talk to you about. is it true you had on your twitter profile you worked at goldman sachs and this was replaced by just saying businessman? >> i'm not sure. i have to check. i'm no longer managing my social media. >> are you proud of having worked for goldman sachs? >> i'm proud of what i learned at goldman sachs, absolutely. go ahead. >> they have been in the campaign already because heidi

cruz worked there. do you think, what do you think of people who criticize their role in our economy? >> look, i think americans feel like they are not being heard in our current system and they feel like banks and other major financial organizations have some kind of fast or inside track in our system. that's the real problem. we have got to make sure that -- >> is there some validity to that argument? >> i think so. >> people at goldman sachs got really rich. >> i think so. i think we have to be careful because we need banks and we need a strong financial sector so that our entire economy thrives. we just have to have it. >> what's valid about the criticism of goldman sachs? >> well, i don't necessarily think the criticism of goldman sachs specifically is valid but i would say the financial sector, banks in general, maybe undue risks were taken with people's retirements essentially before the crash, and i think we have to look at that and we have

to ensure that that doesn't happen again, and some of that is driven by greed and there are issues associated with all of that. but let me tell you about my experience at goldman. i worked with companies in the health care sector, in the industrial sector, in the technology sector, consumer packaged products, and others, and i met with cfos and ceos and other members of the management team in those companies, and i learned directly from them what challenges they were facing and what business models they needed to succeed. >> let's go over your to do list as a presidentsal candidate. you have fund-raisers. oh, vice president. who's on the short list? >> i'm not ready to share who's on that short list yet. we will share the decision when it comes out. i will tell you what i'm looking for. i'm looking for somebody whose interests are aligned with those of the american people. i think that's something that's been lost among the two major

party candidates, frankly. i don't see that their interests are well aligned with those of the american people. and somebody who understands what truly makes america special. i think that's also lost. donald trump for example has no idea what makes this country special or great or however he wants to say it. he has no idea. >> can we end on the "with all due respect" action news team branding? we want to put your logo up there. we found that to be curious. that looks like -- >> walk us through that. >> what's going on there? >> what's the thinking behind that? >> you are really putting me on the spot with this one. i think the idea, i was told the star and the stripe was meant to suggest strength and patriotism and respect to the military and i like those messages and i like that logo, actually. >> what is that green?

what color is that? >> i think that's blue. do you see green? >> i was going to say -- >> note to self. red, white and blue. >> i see green. >> it shows up on your screen as green. >> it's meant to be blue? >> it shows up on my computer screen as blue. >> i have been asking about your family. how are they reacting to this? two sisters and a brother? your parents are both alive living in the seattle area? >> indeed. >> how do they feel about you running for president? >> i think they are pretty amused and excited and proud all at the same time. >> they think you're going to win? >> i haven't asked them that. i hope they do. >> what's the body language? >> it's all been over the phone because it's moved so quickly. i don't know exactly what the body language is. >> got to get face time. >> that's right. we just started using that. i believe i can win. i believe that the american people are hungry for a new generation of leadership. americans are highly dissatisfied with the direction of the country. the negatives of the two major party candidates are sky-high.

it's time for a new generation of leadership that unifies the country and puts the country before their own interests. >> come back and visit us when you're in new york. >> i'd be glad to. >> good luck out there. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ isaac hou has mastered gravity defying moves to amaze his audience. great show. here you go. now he's added a new routine. making depositing a check seem so effortless. easy to use chase technology, for whatever you're trying to master. isaac, are you ready? yeah. chase. so you can. sorry ma'am. no burning here. ugh. heartburn. try new alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. they don't taste chalky and work fast. mmmm. incredible. can i try? she doesn't have heartburn. new alka seltzer heartburn relief gummies. enjoy the relief.

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republicans are largely defending their nominee. susan collins, senator from maine, told msnbc's "meet the press daily" that while she didn't think trump was calling for violence with his comment, she did see it as quote, an example of donald trump's looseness with language that can lead to interpretations. trump's communications advisor jason miller told major garrett of cbs quote, i'm surprised so many reporters are falling hook, line and sinker for what is obviously a ridiculous charge. regardless of whether you buy what the trump campaign is saying, they should understand a lot of people are interpreting this as a joke about violence against hillary clinton. >> here's the big problem. we are down to 90 days. it's one more day where the news cycle is about a referendum on trump's temperament. that's it. there are only so many more days. we can go back and forth. it was in very bad taste. one more day, does this guy have the brain power to be president. >> tim kaine sort of responded saying trump was not temperamentally fit to be president based on this remark. >> it just plays into the narrative. >> we will see where this goes. i'm sure we will talk about it

tomorrow. go to bloombergpolitics.com right now. we'll be back tomorrow. sayonara. >> coming up, "hardball with chris matthews." gun play. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. donald trump is spending tonight seeking to defend his charge that once hillary clinton has gained power, she will terminate the right to bear arms and that the only way to stop her once she possesses that power will be for those trump-called second amendment people to take action. let's watch. >> hillary wants to abolish essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, if she gets to pick -- if she get